hi I'm Daniel welcome to Oxford online
English in this lesson you can learn the
most important grammar rule in English
of course you need to know many things
to use grammar correctly in English
however there's one tip that can
dramatically improve your English
grammar especially in writing first
don't forget to check our website
oxfordonlineenglish.com we have many
free lessons to help you improve your
English there's also a level test which
can show you how good your grammar is
now but you want to hear the grammar tip
right
what is it let's see
here's the basic idea make sure your
sentence has a subject and a verb and
that you know what the subject and the
main verb are every sentence needs a
verb and unless your sentence is an
imperative meaning that you're giving
someone a command then your sentence
needs a subject to each clause in your
sentence should have one subject and one
main verb and only one subject and one
main verb it sounds simple maybe you're
thinking this is too easy
I know this already however we see
students make mistakes with this all the
time especially in writing mistakes with
this point a serious because they often
make it hard to understand what you want
to say even if your meaning is clear
sentences with this problem are often
difficult to read in any situation
that's a problem it's especially serious
if you're taking an exam like IELTS
let's look at the most basic point your
sentence needs a subject which should be
a noun or noun phrase like they
everybody or my math teacher from high
school then you need a main verb which
generally goes after the subject with
this you can make simple sentences like
these they have a nice house everybody
agreed my maths teacher from high school
was really good at explaining
complicated things after the main verb
you might have a simple compliment like
a nice house you might have nothing at
all your sentence might finish after the
verb like everybody agreed or you might
have a longer compliment possibly
including other verbs as in my
teacher from high school was really good
at explaining complicated things so
you're probably still thinking that this
is easy and so far it is let's see how
it can go wrong look at five sentences
by the way these sentences are all real
examples from our students writing most
of them come from IELTS writing practice
all these sentences break the basic rule
we mentioned above can you see how pause
the video read the sentences and try to
find the problems start again when
you're ready in the first sentence
there's no main verb will is a modal
verb but a modal verb can't be a main
verb you need a main verb after it
for example we will go back home next
Friday the second sentence has two
subjects imposing higher taxes on fast
food and it one Clause can't have two
subjects to correct this sentence remove
it imposing higher taxes on fast food is
a good idea the third sentence has a
main verb but no subject what effects
individuals lives directly this is
difficult to correct because it's
impossible to know what the writer
wanted to say you would need to add a
noun before the verb effects to make it
understandable the fourth sentence has a
fragment at the end which includes a
subject and a verb
this means the sentence has too many
subjects and verbs each Clause can only
have one subject and one main verb
what's the solution there are many
possibilities but the easiest way to
correct this is to break the two
sentences into two
arts you can do this by changing the
comma after Alexandria to a semicolon
finally what about the fifth sentence
it's difficult to understand right again
it's difficult to correct this sentence
because it's hard to see the writers
ideas the problem is that this sentence
has several parts with several subjects
and verbs and it is not clear what
refers to what for example each society
is a subject but then forced medical
treatment is also a subject later in the
sentence we have a verb avoid and it
isn't clear which subject goes with it
on a more practical level it just isn't
clear what this sentence is about does
the writer want to say something about
each society or about large sets of
people or about forced medical treatment
we don't know this is why subject verb
structure is so important if it isn't
clear it will be hard to understand what
your sentence is about
sometimes this might mean that your
ideas aren't clear in your mind next
let's expand this basic rule and see how
you can use it to make a wider range of
sentences
you heard before that both subjects and
verbs can be words or phrases sometimes
your subject or verb might be a longer
phrase this often leads to mistakes
because when your subject and verb are
multiple words it's more difficult to
keep track of your sentence structure
let's do an example together take a
sentence you saw before everybody agreed
you can make the subject everybody into
a phrase for example everybody who was
at to the meeting agreed you can make
the verb into a phrase like this
everybody who was at the meeting agreed
to change the office dress code
you can make each phrase even longer for
example everybody who is at the board
meeting held last Tuesday evening agreed
to change the existing office dress code
to something more informal even though
we've added lots of new words and ideas
this sentence has the same basic
structure as before it still has one
subject and one main verb although we've
added a compliment after the verb the
verb doesn't have a direct object we
haven't added anything
grammatically new to the sentence we've
simply expanded the existing parts let's
do one more example of this this time we
want you to try here's a basic sentence
my sister called can you make this
sentence longer by changing the subject
and verb to longer phrases for this
exercise there are a couple of rules you
can't add a noun after cold because that
would change the structure you also
can't use
conjunctions like although or because
the idea is to keep the basic structure
the same so that the sentence has one
subject and one verb which doesn't have
a direct object pause the video and try
it now how did you do of course there
are many ways to do this let's look at
three possibilities
my sister Mandy called last night my
sister who I haven't spoken to for ages
called to tell me about her new job you
can see that you can do this in a
simpler way or you can make the sentence
much more complicated by adding relative
clauses adjectives adverbs and so on
however remember the basic idea all of
these sentences have the same basic
structure one subject and one main verb
let's move on and talk about one more
important point
as you heard before almost all sentences
need a subject only imperatives like
come here don't need a subject
interjections like Wow also don't need a
subject but many linguists including us
would say that these are not sentences
however sometimes there isn't a clear
noun subject in this case you need to
use a word like it or there for example
it won't take long to get there it's
worth going there's a mosquito on your
nose there have been several
developments since the last time we
spoke in these sentences the words it
and there are empty subjects they don't
refer to a specific noun or thing you
use them only because the sentence needs
a subject they don't add any meaning to
the sentence so what's the difference
when do you need to use it and when do
you need to use there use it to talk
about distances and times for example
it's not far to the metro how long will
it take you to finish everything
it's 6:30 you often use it to talk about
the weather - for example it's sunny
it'll be cold tomorrow it was really wet
last month
you also use it to talk about situations
and in a number of phrases like it's
worth for example it's safe to walk
around at night here it's good that you
could join us it's really cozy in here
what about their use there to say that
something exists or doesn't exist
usually when you use there it's the
first time you're mentioning something
for example there's some salad in the
fridge there are several reasons why I
have to say no to this idea there didn't
used to be so many homeless people here
let's practice together look at five
sentences do you need to add it or there
pause the video and think about your
answers ready here they are finally we
have one more thing to show you
in general the subject of your sentence
goes immediately before the main verb
you can see this in the sentences you've
already seen in this lesson sometimes
the main verb also has an auxiliary verb
like have has do does will can and so on
in positive sentences the auxiliary verb
and the main verb almost always go
together
for example they have bought a nice
house
my sister Mandy will call tonight
however there's one case where the main
verb goes before the subject questions
with B for example are you ready were
there many people there in some cases
the auxiliary verb needs to come before
the subject this is most common in
questions for example can you help me
what time does she arrive how many
pieces of cake have you had already it's
also possible in certain structures
which are mostly used in formal writing
like at no time did I suspect that he
was the thief at this point let's review
the most important points that you
should take away from this lesson 1 make
sure every sentence has a subject and a
main verb in each clause don't put more
than one subject or main verb in one
clause 2 if your subject and main verb
are longer phrases or if you add a lot
of adverbs or subordinate clauses to
your sentence it might be harder to keep
track of this structure before you write
a sentence think about this question
what are you talking about
and what are you saying about this thing
decide what you're talking about the
subject and what you're saying about it
the main verb keep these in your head
three study the difference between main
verbs and auxiliary verbs
remember that auxiliary verbs can't
generally be used alone make sure every
auxiliary verb has a main verb attached
learn the cases when the auxiliary verb
needs to come before the subject if you
can follow these simple steps your
writing will be clearer better organized
and more accurate do you have any tips
to help other English learners improve
their grammar please share your
suggestions in the comments thanks for
watching
see you next time
[Music]